Online travel portal MakeMyTrip on Wednesday denied reports that claimed that hotel bookings on its platform as well as on Goibibo have been banned, stressing that “it is business as usual”.

A viral message on social media claimed that MakeMyTrip and Goibibo have been banned.

According to MakeMyTrip CEO, all bookings on its platforms were being honoured.

“There is misinformation being spread in social media about hotel bookings on MakeMyTrip and Goibibo not being honoured. This information being spread is completely baseless,” Rajesh Magow, MakeMyTrip Co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.

“We continue to operate our business as usual, with approximately one lakh room nights booked just yesterday on our platforms,” he added.

Magow’s reaction came in the backdrop of some hotel partners in Ahmedabad expressing concerns on their commercial terms with MakeMyTrip and Goibibo.

“We have about 55,000 domestic hotels and 500,000 international hotels as our partners and we are proud and privileged to have this wide network of hotels to serve all accommodation needs of our customers,” said the CEO.

“We are honouring all bookings on our platform across cities, making sure there is no hassle for any single customer who books on MakeMyTrip and Goibibo,” Magow added.

According to Prashanth Aroor, MD and CEO, Intellistay Hotels, they remain fully available to book via MakeMyTrip and Goibibo.

“We continue to work closely with them during this period of market confusion to ensure that all bookings were honoured at all our hotels and consumers are not inconvenienced in anyway,” he said.

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Redmi Note 7 Dropped From Stairs, Used as a Skate in Latest ‘Test Videos’

Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 7 earlier this month in China, its first smartphone after the Redmi sub-brand announcement. The phone was teased heavily before launch, and its durability was highlighted as one of its big key features. Before launch, the company rolled out video footage of employees stomping on to the Redmi Note 7 multiple times, but the smartphone survived the horror apparently without any visible damage. Now, two more tests have been performed on the Redmi Note 7 – one that involves it being thrown down the stairs, and another video shows a man skating on top of the phone. In both cases, the Redmi Note 7 comes out unharmed, without any scratches, broken glass, or bends.

In the first video (reposted below from YouTube), Redmi CEO Lu Weibing throws the Redmi Note 7 down a staircase, inside a garbage can that has been sealed off with tape. During the descent, the Redmi Note 7 is seen thrashing and tossing in the bin, but it scrapes through the ordeal without any damage. In the second video (reposted below from YouTube), a user apparently decides to duct tape the Redmi Note 7 with wheels, and use it as skates. The blogger proceeds to put all of his weight on the phone and skate for a decent amount of time. The wheels lose its grip, which forces him to stop, but upon inspection at the end, the Redmi Note 7 is completely unmarked, without any scratches or broken glass. The phone is seen working perfectly fine after suffering the ordeal – a decent testimony to its tough exterior. Of course, we’d urge readers to take both videos by the official Redmi CEO and the blogger with a pinch of salt, and recommend not trying such tests on your own smartphones back home.

The Redmi Note 7 sports a phantom grade double-sided Corning Gorilla Glass 5 body for durability. The smartphone’s other big highlights are the 48-megapixel camera in its dual rear camera setup, a waterdrop-shaped notch, fingerprint sensor on the back panel, and a 4,000mAh battery.

Redmi Note 7 specifications

As for hardware, the dual-SIM (Nano) Redmi Note 7 sports a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080×2340 pixels) LTPS display, is powered by the 2.2GHz Snapdragon 660 octa-core SoC paired with Adreno 512 graphics, and 3GB, 4GB, and 6GB RAM options. Internal storage is at 32GB and 64GB options with the option to expand further using

As for optics, the Redmi Note 7 sports dual camera setup with one 48-megapixel Samsung GM1 sensor with f/1.8 aperture and another 5-megpapixel sensor. The cameras at the back get monochrome dual-LED flash support, and PDAF. Up front, there is a 13-megapixel selfie sensor as well with features like AI face unlock, AI smart beauty, AI single shot blur, front HDR, background blur, and more.

The Redmi Note 7 packs a 4,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4 support. The company touts up to 251 hours of standby time, 23 hours of talk time, 13 hours of video playback, and 7 hours of gaming. Connectivity options on the Redmi Note 7 include USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, 4G VoLTE, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth v5, and Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. It measures at 159.21×75.21×8.1mm, and weighs 186 grams

Bharti Airtel has reportedly launched a new long-term prepaid recharge priced at Rs. 1,699. The pack is said to offersunlimited calling, data, and SMS benefits like the rest of the combo packages from Airtel. The validity of this new Airtel Rs. 1,699 pack is reportedly 365 days i.e., a full year, and it looks to give competition to Reliance Jio that also offers a year-long package at the same price. Just like Reliance Jio, Airtel does not put any FUP on its unlimited voice calling benefits, and the Rs. 1,699 recharge is also available in an open market manner.

The new Airtel Rs. 1,699 prepaid recharge is said to offer unlimited STD, roaming, and local calls, 100 SMS messages per day, and 1GB data benefit per day. It is also reported to come with a year-long validity, and offers free premium content subscription on the Airtel TV app. Telecom Talk reports that this new pack is available in an open market manner, but we weren’t able to spot it on the website or the app.

The new Airtel recharge will compete directly with the Reliance Jio’s Rs. 1,699 prepaid recharge that offers unlimited voice calling benefits, 100 SMS messages per day, and 1.5GB data per day for a validity of 365 days. It will also go head to head with Vodafone’s Rs. 1,499 prepaid recharge that offers similar benefits as the Airtel Rs. 1,699 pack – 1GB data per day, 100 SMS messages per day, unlimited voice calling, and one-year validity. The Rs. 1,499 Vodafone recharge also includes access to the Vodafone Play app to offer prepaid subscribers with free Live TV and movies while on-the-go.

LG is expected to launch its flagship smartphone, the LG G8, at MWC 2019. Now, ahead of that date, a report has emerged claiming the exact launch date of the smartphone – February 24 – as well as its launch time. The report also claimed a few specifications and features of the smartphone, such as the Snapdragon 855 SoC, a triple rear camera setup, 3D photography capabilities, as well as a waterdrop-shaped display notch. An earlier rumour claimed that LG will also launch another smartphone with a secondary, add-on display at MWC 2019, though the most recent report does not corroborate this.

The LG G8 will be launched at 10am on February 24, ETNews reported last week. It also reported a time for the launch – 10am. However, going by Google Translate, it is unclear if the publication is referring to South Korean local time or Barcelona (where the Mobile World Congress, or MWC, is held) local time. If the former, the launch will happen at 6:30am IST and 2am CET, which seems unlikely if it is to be a MWC 2019-focused event. If the latter (much more likely), the LG G8 launch will happen at 10am CET, or 6pm Korean time and 2:30pm IST. This year, MWC 2019 is scheduled to begin on February 25 and go on till February 28. With a February 24 launch, LG is reported to unveiled the LG G8 just ahead of MWC, something that in itself is not unusual – most major smartphone manufacturers hold pre-MWC events to showcase their latest offerings.

As we mentioned, the ETNews report claimed the LG G8 will be launched with a triple rear camera setup, and the three lenses will also offer a 3D shooting setup. The report also said the LG G8 will feature a waterdrop-shaped display notch, something several smartphone manufacturers have adopted in the recent past, and be powered by the top-end Snapdragon 855 SoC that’s also expected to be utilised by Samsung, Sony, and Xiaomi on their anticipated respective Galaxy S10, Xperia XZ4, and Mi 9 flagships, and confirmed by OnePlus to be on the next flagship from the company.

So far, only Samsung has confirmed a launch date for its next generation Galaxy S-Series flagship – it will be launched on February 20. If the ETNews report is to be believed, it appears LG has moved up the launch of its flagship G-Series smartphone this year – to recall, its predecessor, the LG G7 ThinQ, was launched in May last year. The ETNews report corroborates another recent report by South Korean publication Naver, which also claimed the LG G8 will be launched at MWC 2019. Notably though, the Naver report had also detailed a foldable smartphone by LG would be launched in the same time frame, featuring an add-on display. We’ll just have to wait and see. The ETNews report however does not corroborate leaked renders shared by tipster Onleaks, which show a dual rear camera setup and a regularly-shaped notch.